A deal with the City of Ottawa covering cross-border deployment of paramedic services from neighbouring counties is still in place, according to Renfrew County’s director of emergency services.

Renfrew County chief paramedic Mike Nolan says that until he has been officially notified to the contrary the deal goes through.

Under the tentative deal, paramedics from Renfrew County, Prescott-Russell and Cornwall would only respond to calls from Ottawa for patients in cardiac arrest or unconscious.

In the event of a major emergency, Ottawa paramedics will have to call the other services directly to request backup. It will be up to those services to decide whether they can spare the resources to assist.

On Thursday, Anthony Di Monte, Ottawa’s general manager of emergency of protective services, told city council the city will not consider the agreement. For his part, Nolan said the deal isn’t dead until he receives a phone call from new Ottawa paramedic chief Myles Cassidy.

“Regardless of what was said I will be forwarding our copy of the signed agreement to the City of Ottawa because formally I have received no correspondence from the City of Ottawa,” said Nolan.

Nolan said the proposed deal would dramatically reduce the number of times Renfrew County paramedics respond to calls from Ottawa. Last year, they responded to 370 calls.

“Ottawa was the originator of this agreement and sent it out to all its neighbouring municipalities,” he said.

On Wednesday, Renfrew County council endorsed the agreement and the changes to the paramedic ambulance deployment plan which Nolan will now send off to the province so they can implement the new criteria. At the end of the day, he believes Ottawa should stick to the plan.

“The City of Ottawa is playing games with the lives of residents of eastern Ontario and we would appreciate them honouring the agreement that they were a party to creating,” said Nolan.

Until earlier this year, Ottawa had placed heavy reliance on neighbouring counties to handle rural calls within the city’s boundaries. The city’s deployment plans focus on its urban core as opposed to the rural, outlying areas within its periphery. As a result, call volumes from Renfrew County increased by 41 per cent. Furthermore, the city refused to reimburse its neighbours for services rendered. In March, The Ministry of Health has directed Ottawa paramedics to change their dispatch practices.

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